1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a windshield wiper blade cleaner. More particularly, it relates to a portable, hand-held device for cleaning the wiper blade.
2. The Prior Art
Typically, windshield wipers are cleaned by spraying pressurized cleaning fluid onto the windshield while operating the wipers. If the wipers still streak, they are cleaned with a material sheet such as a paper towel or rag. While the prior art cleaning methods are satisfactory for small amounts of dirt, they are usually unsatisfactory for cleaning ice and heavy accumulations which require some degree of abrasive cleaning. In addition, the prior art methods have been found to be unsatisfactory because the windshield wiper fluid runs out without warning or a suitable material sheet is not available.
An attempt to overcome these drawbacks can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,670,459 which discloses a combined abrading and scraping implement. However, the patented device still has certain drawbacks in that it requires two passes, one for each channel on the device, to effectively clean a wiper blade. In addition, the channels have fixed sidewalls which do not account for wiper blades of different sizes. Finally, the fixed sidewalls do not allow the user to adjust the compressive, cleaning form on the wiper to account for varying degrees of dirt accumulation.